Hi, Litopians! In this CraftChat we're looking at traditional publishing -v- independent/self publishing. As with so many subjects we cover, this one is vast and we have by no means exhausted it here. Please feel free to pitch in. There are pros and cons on both sides. It would be great to hear your views and experiences of either – good or bad.
While Galadriel and I write about the different choices writers have these days, Rachel gives excellent advice on marketing. So whichever path you choose, you're covered.
As before, the discussion thread will be open for FIVE DAYS from when we post the Chat. Let us know your thoughts. If you disagree with anything, that’s fine. Tell us why. We love hearing from you. All opinions are welcome and valid additions to our learning. Keep it civil.
Rachel (RK Wallis), Galadriel, Kay (Ancora Imparo)
DIGITAL PUBLISHING
Tired of rejection slips or no responses from agents; dismayed by big name authors writing comfortably with agencies whose literary sparkle doesn’t extend to assisting new authors; trawled through The Writers and Artists Yearbook, agency websites; researched individual agents to discover their favourite authors and their pet hates before measuring your writing against someone else’s yardstick, and on top of that, you’re either running out of agencies because they’ve rejected you, or they have a full client base and are currently closed to submissions.
Self-publishing seems just as daunting, although after feeling the mangle effect (wringer, if you’re American) from the above, you’re on the point of giving it a whirl – if only you could get your head around doing everything yourself: book cover designer, editor, marketer, publicist. And if you’re not literally doing it by yourself, you’re putting in the legwork (and money) to do the above. While all up for learning new skills, chancing making a hash-up of your novel getting ‘out there’ because of inappropriate font, typos, amateur clip-art covers, and even poor paper quality (should you go for a print-run) are just some of the pit-falls of going it alone. The upside is that if your marketing and publicity skills are non-existent, then no one will ever know how amateur your attempts were to present great writing. I’ve never tried self-publishing, but if I did, I would have to ensure my work was packaged as good as if it were traditionally published.
There is an in between road, and that is digital publishing incorporating some print of demand. Taking this route means you have access to some professional boots on the ground, meaning they will do the editing, cover design, marketing, etc. A viable route for the writer who is overwhelmed by the thought of going it alone. When researching digital publishing, take care to read contracts, and be sure that this meets your expectations as a published author. Any publishing service that asks a writer to outlay any money at any point, is vanity publishing, and one that is best avoided.
What is Digital Publishing
Digital media is content delivered on phones, computers, tablets, and other portable media.
Bookouture are part of Hachette Book Group, and one of the ‘big 5.’
Founded in 2012 and based in London, Bookouture has enjoyed a number of publishing successes. Its website is slick and detailed. Currently, there are forty-eight on the team specialising in every aspect of publishing from commissioning editors, digital sales and operations to publicity and social media, audio publishing, and contracts, rights and translation. This list is not exhaustive, and each team member has a photograph of themselves and a mini-bio showing what background, skills and talents they have.
Always open for submissions, they take on both unsolicited and agented writers, and call for a variety of genres. Their books do appear to be firmly fitting (and thus formulaic?) inside the chosen genre. There doesn’t appear to be innovative, complex or quirky writing.
Paraphrasing from their website here is some of what they offer:
There are over one-hundred authors published with them together with author photos and book lists.
The second publisher is Storm Publishing founded by the former CEO of Bookouture in 2022. They too are a dynamic company, and they point out that they are publishers not a publishing service, and therefore do not ask the author to outlay any money. They “pay 50% of net revenue to authors.” Their cut is 50% for 10 years.
They are looking for adult fiction in any genre. Once you submit your MS they intend to get back to you within two weeks.
The third, Thread Publishing is an imprint of Bookouture, specialising in non-fiction: Health, Memoir, Parenting, Self-Development, and so on. Their selling point is ”We want all our titles to be bestsellers – so we treat each of them like one.” Their cut is 55% forever.
To reiterate, if this appeals to you, do your research, and ask questions before you sign anything. For example, how many e-books do you have to sell before a PoD is done? Would you be happy to take 45% on each book sold? Ancora’s warning is that “Amazon, etc., all take their own cut of any sum made, so Hachette/Bookouture will take those fees off BEFORE they calculate any money owed to the author.” This is certainly something you want to take into account when doing your homework. Having said that, the authors I’ve read are really happy with their choices and have enjoyed considerable success. I guess it’s a matter of what is important to you. Do you want to be totally self-published and keep all of the money you earn, or do you want someone to take the reins, and in doing so, accept that a publisher’s expertise is going to require payment? If you have any experience with either the above publishers or others, it would be great to hear from you.
Galadriel
THE MOVING FINGER WRITES AND HAVING WRIT MOVES ON…
Twenty years ago, if you told me you were considering self-publishing, I’d have made a twisted wee face and said, “Are you sure?” Now, I try hard not to show that face when someone tells me they’re “holding out” for traditional publishing. The world is not what it was twenty years ago. Publishing isn’t what it was twenty years ago; writers’ earnings aren’t what they were twenty years ago; and God knows, technology is frighteningly ahead of where it was twenty years ago.
Writers have moved on. We have choices. An entire generation has grown up using online tools to earn a (good) living from their creativity. It's worth looking at some industry figures before you make up your own mind.
The Authors’ Licensing & Collecting Society (ALCS), Published December 2022, showed that “earnings from writing alone for authors with third-party publishers [that’s traditional publishing to you and me] stood at approximately $8,600 (£7,000).” I think we can assume that’s per annum. Most of you know how long it takes to write a (decent) book so you can work out an approximate hourly rate from that figure.
Compare that with the “median revenue” for independent authors in 2022, which stands at about $12,749 (£10,229). [NB: as with these industry reports, I’m using the term “independent author” to mean the same as “self-published author”. Check out the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), who “represent, advance, promote and support independent (self-published) authors globally”. This term is not to be confused with a small, independent press / publisher, which is a tiny publishing house dedicated to traditional publishing. Nor is it to be confused with the hybrid publishing houses who offer to edit etc and publish your book for half, or more, of the book’s lifetime earnings. In my view, those hybrids are not traditional publishers, though they may be affiliated to one. They are new / hybrid companies set up to take advantage of the independent / self-publishing boom.]
The ALCS 2022 report showed “a sustained fall in professional writers’ real terms income from writing over the past 15 year of around 60%.”
ALLi suggests indie / self-publishing authors are bucking that trend: “Average incomes of self-published authors are rising, with a 53% increase in 2022, over the previous year.”
SOURCE
Okay. So what?
Here’s another couple of statistics, and then I’m done with the figures:
Hachette Book Group (parent company Lagardére): Revenue for UK branch, 2022, grew 3.4%. Group revenue for the year totalled €6.9 billion “UP 28.3% from 2021”.
Average executive compensation is around $235,000 pa.
HarperCollins (owned by News Corp): profits have been falling recently. However, stats for 2022: HC operates “with an annual revenue of $2.19 billion The company increased its publishing revenue by 10.5% compared to the 2021 fiscal year”. SOURCE
Average executive salary is £200,000 pa; (highest is $430.000 pa; smallest is $57,000).
I won’t bore you with the rest – you know how to use Google to check traditional publishing houses’ profits. All I would emphasise is that one billion in the US and UK = one thousand million (as far as I know, a billion in the EU = one million million. Please correct me if I’m wrong). Whether it’s in £, $ or € that is a lot of money. It is not going to (most) traditionally published writers.
Edited to add: Penguin Random House, Hachette and HarperCollins have all seen reductions in profits in 2023 and are reducing staff to cut costs. Nonetheless, profits remain in the millions. Here is another great site for keeping up-to-date on information and news for indie authors and traditionally published authors: killzoneblog.com – a fantastic, professional resource for all writers.
Don’t misunderstand me here. I have no problem with anyone earning a lot of money. Good luck to you! Earn as much as you can. Just don’t do it by ripping the piss out of someone else, especially creative people who barely earn enough to scrape by. Compare the salaries the executives of the big publishing houses take for themselves, with what they pay the vast majority of their writers – writers without whom those executives would not have a job.
NB: Smaller publishers, the independents who are not affiliated to what’s known as the Big Five (HarperCollins; Penguin Random House; Macmillan; Simon & Schuster; Hachette (Lagardére)…and all of their many subsidiaries) will be struggling as much as any other small business these days. So, if you’re picked up by a small “independent” traditional publisher they probably won’t be able to offer you much in the way of an advance. That’s not greed; that’s tough economics. For those companies, “Independent” means just that: they are independent of any big company and so they don’t have a big pot of money to dip into whenever they want. I applaud those small independent publishing houses. We need them.
I can hear you say Ah, but it was ever thus: greedy companies take all the money, and poor writers starve in garrets.
Not any more. Not since the IT revolution. And I know we all love to hate Amazon, but it has altered the playing field. Many creatives are taking advantage of that.
So where does that leave writers?
PROS AND CONS
It leaves you with choices.
If you prefer the traditional publishing route, that’s fine. You submit to agents and/or publishers. If accepted, you’ll be offered a deal. They edit your book, ask for rewrites, take you through it all, handle the proofreading, pay for the cover and the print run etc, and sort out distribution (a biggie)…
They may offer you an advance. If your book sells enough copies to recoup that advance for the publisher, that’s great. Once the advance is covered / paid off, you then begin to reap the benefit of any subsequent sales. Those are your royalties. The publishing house may also take a cut of those subsequent sales, depending on your contract with them. If you don’t “earn out”, ie if your book doesn’t sell enough copies to pay back the advance the publishing house gave you, they may not accept any more of your work. Again, it depends on your contract.
Of course they hope you will make them money; they’re a business, not a charity. If your book takes off and starts earning a lot of money, you should start making a lot more money too. At least, that’s the theory.
The major thing to remember about a bona fide traditional publisher is they do not charge you a penny. Nothing. Ever. They pay for it all, and they help you grow as an author by investing their money, time and editorial staff in you. They don't charge you any money before or after taking you on.
THE PROS of traditional publishing are obvious: they do all the heavy lifting with regard to the technical side of publishing. You don’t have to worry about where the hell you find someone to “make” a cover. And formatting – what’s that? Don’t worry, you can leave all that to the traditional publisher. You don’t have to do anything except sit back and wait for the money to roll in, right?
Wrong. (See under.)
The biggest PRO of all, though, for many writers is being able to say to friends and family “I’ve found a publisher!” Which is code for “See! I AM good enough.” That tacit validation is what drives so many writers to hold out for traditional publishing – it sure isn’t the expectation of making a liveable annual salary. Of course, that is absolutely their choice.
Interesting how the term “vanity publishing” has changed over the decades, too.
THE CONS: traditional houses are less likely to take a risk on new writers. They prefer writers with their own website / blog / vlog / FaceBook followers / TikTok followers / Threads followers etc. Traditional publishers, quite rightly, expect writers to be professional, to be committed to growing as a writer / business, to produce consistently good work, and to work hard at the marketing, too.
Even as an unknown, you will be expected to know about social media and you’ll be expected to help market your own book. Don’t think your traditional publisher will do all that while you sit back, drink coffee and dream up the plot for your next book. Like I said: That World is Gone.
You’ll still be expected to do your share of marketing, from book-shop readings and “events” (if you can get them), to social media followers (if you can get them), to selling at your local market, if need be.
They will also expect you to be marketing your book LONG before it is published. They’ll want you building a buzz around it, perhaps doing some short TikTok videos, organising reader reviews etc. This all takes time and effort. Most of it will be yours.
AND IF I DO IT MYSELF?
Publishing independently / self-publishing, means you do it ALL yourself. You write the book. If you can, you have it professionally edited. You have a cover professionally made. You do research on what’s the best way to format your book for different online retailers (Amazon; Apple; Barns & Noble etc). You upload the book online to Amazon etc either formatted as an ebook file or as an ebook plus print on demand (POD).
You need to know all this. As an independent / self-publishing author, you are essentially making a commitment to yourself and your work. You become a small business dedicated to YOU, promoting you and your creativity. For that risk, and hard work, you will reap all the benefits, because all the profit you make (minus the small fee Amazon et al charge for uploading your book) will be yours. All of it. You do all the work, you keep all the money you make (minus expenses, if you delegate, and minus any tax owed).
That’s why, when I hear about hybrid publishing houses that offer writers a “deal” where the house takes 50 or 60% of the writers’ life-time earnings on a book, for giving the book a light edit, a proofread, a cover and an upload, I get incensed. THAT is just one reason why the big publishing houses, and others, are making millions of dollars, pounds or euros in profit out of creatives. Yes, of course, some of those hybrid publishing companies might have decent standards and may accept manuscripts that are pretty good to begin with. Some may be good to deal with. But many won’t. They’ll publish just about anything, and then make sure they take the biggest cut of any profit cake, forever. Multiply that by the thousands (millions?) of writers who will use them and you can see why it’s an attractive side hustle for so many publishing companies.
Those hybrid companies, no matter how they sell it, are still there to make money out of all the writers in the world who want to say those magic words: “I’ve found a publisher!”
To be clear: those hybrid companies are not traditional publishing houses (even though they may be affiliated to them). A traditional publishing house will not charge a writer anything to publish their book, either before publication or after it.
CAVEAT EMPTOR
Whether you pay a company before publication (sometimes known as vanity publishing – which is fine if that’s what you want); or whether you pay a company after publication (as in the hybrid companies who will “edit, proofread, provide a cover and upload the ebook” for a big percentage of your earning on that book forever), my warning is the same:
Know what you’re getting into.
Check the small print.
Check for hidden fees. For example, who pays Amazon’s small fee for uploading digital work – them or you?
Is the total amount you get GROSS or NET? Ask them what that means. Exactly.
Work out the finances before you sign anything over to a hybrid publishing company.
If a service takes 55%, that means for every 100 pounds, dollars or euros, that’s 55 to them and 45 to you. But they will probably take Amazon’s (small) fee out of YOUR slice of the cake, so that’s even less than 45 to you. Is there anything else they deduct? Ask them. Get it in writing.
If you make 1000, they will take 550 and you will make 450, less whatever fees they put in your contract. But you wrote the book! You spent months / years trying to make it the best book you could, writing and rewriting and … and they take the biggest slice of the cake forever, on the book you signed over to them. Excuse me while I go wash my mouth out with soap.
If you think that’s a good deal, then go for it. It may suit writers who don’t mind paying a publishing company for that service. If you can, check with The Society of Authors about any contract from a company that wants to take a cut of your earnings.
ALTERNATIVELY…
Rather than pay a company more than half your earnings for the rest of the book’s life, you could invest in yourself. Delegate the things you can’t do. Check online for designers and illustrators who make covers, either for ebooks or for ebook plus POD (prices vary. Check online. Join forums and ask questions. There is a whole community of indie authors out there and they are incredibly helpful).
Equally, you can find a formatter to make the book ready for digital upload. Or learn how to do it yourself. It’s up to you. It all depends what your budget it and how much you want to invest in yourself.
As an indie author, you have choices.
GOING TO MARKET
Whether you publish traditionally or independently, you’ll have to know how to market your book, using every social media and technological strategy at your disposal. See Rachel’s excellent piece on Marketing (under) for in-depth information on this.
Preferably, begin marketing your book long before it hits Amazon or any book shelf.
Organise ARCS, if you can – Advance Reader Copies. Some companies provide this service. Honest reviews will help sell your work.
Create interest. Give snippets of the book, depending on the genre you’re selling.
Consider TikTok, Instagram etc. Be consistent. Keep it short. Post often. Read up on other indie authors’ successes. Check what they did, which social media they used (and which they didn’t waste time on). This will also be genre dependent.
Don’t make the mistake of going on every social media outlet. That’s a sure way to burnout (it’ll turn readers off, too). Be fussy. Where do other authors in your genre advertise? Do they use Amazon or Facebook ads? TikTok? Threads? Should you have a newsletter? (Probably.) A reader magnet? A website? A blog? How do you plan to engage with your readers to ensure they buy your next book? How long are you going to make them wait for it?
Answers will vary depending on your genre. Ask around on forums. You’ll be surprised how many other indie authors – some very successful – are happy to help newcomers.
Communication and community are strong in the indie world.
I AM THE MASTER OF MY FATE, I AM THE CAPTAIN OF MY SOUL
Poet William Earnest Henley had it right. But you can master technicalities, too.
You can make a cover for free on sites such as Canva.com. You can format your book (Vellum.pub is a good paid-for software, as is Atticus, but there are many other free options). As an indie author you can do all, or most, of it yourself and tailor it to your own budget. It means commitment and loyalty to yourself as a writer, and to your journey as an author. Which, sadly, a lot of traditional publishers no longer offer. If you don’t earn them the biggest slice of the pie, they’ll drop you faster than an old cliché.
And yet, one road can still lead to the other. Traditional publishers are also trawling indie communities and forums, looking for the most popular authors and offering them deals. The carrot offered there is distribution. But it’s another way indie authors are taking control, so it’s good.
You see? Choices.
One last caveat: don't think for a moment that self-publishing or traditionally publishing ONE book is going to make you a decent annual salary. If you make this your job, you have to work at it just like any other job. That means you're writing the next book while you continue to market the one you just published. Have a deadline for finishing it. Build hype around that, too. Have LOTS of ideas ready for your next books and keep that ball rolling. And keep reading! But you do that anyway, right? You're a business. Your words are your product. Write! Keep writing, and keep publishing. That way, you will grow as an author and hopefully your reader base will grow, too.
If you’re sitting thinking Yeah, I can do this! I’ve got a soul. I’m a captain! But, um, what should I write?
Research what sells best, at wordsrated.com
Whatever path you choose, whichever sea you sail, I wish you success.
Ancora Imparo
MARKETING
There are many strategies for marketing, and many of you live and breathe it for your own books, so this chat is familiar ground to some. I invite those people to expand upon what I discuss and share their ideas. Rather than delve into all the “deals” etc you can offer readers which are discussed in this thread: Self-Publishing - Book Marketing Tactics Discussion Thread. I’ll approach marketing from the angle of how you might generate and build interest in your book (then make them wait).
But my Craft Chat is just that – a chat based on my own experiences (I self published in 2017) and observation and research. With my disclaimer out of the way, let’s chat marketing.
Understanding human behaviour and what drives readers to buy books is fundamental to building our own marketing campaigns. So, approach your marketing from a “build interest and they will come” perspective.
This is how you could market from the Instagram platform, but I believe you could adapt these concepts for whatever social platform you prefer. You provide content on Instagram via posts and polls (stays in your feed -unless you archive a post), stories (last 24 hours at the top of your feed), and reels (stays on your page forever).
Visibility
First things first. Let your followers learn to trust you before selling them your book. You could:
Engagement
Next step:
ANTICIPATION
Reel ideas:
BUILD HYPE AND INTEREST
Another benefit of Instagram is you can create an Instagram shop, should you choose to be hands on, and you can stock your own books in the shop. Then link Shopify your Instagram shop. Buyers don’t have to leave your feed to buy your book. You just have to post it to them.
LINKS
How Authors can use Instagram to Sell More Books
VLOGS
Use a story to market on Instagram -
R K Wallis
While Galadriel and I write about the different choices writers have these days, Rachel gives excellent advice on marketing. So whichever path you choose, you're covered.
As before, the discussion thread will be open for FIVE DAYS from when we post the Chat. Let us know your thoughts. If you disagree with anything, that’s fine. Tell us why. We love hearing from you. All opinions are welcome and valid additions to our learning. Keep it civil.
Rachel (RK Wallis), Galadriel, Kay (Ancora Imparo)
DIGITAL PUBLISHING
Tired of rejection slips or no responses from agents; dismayed by big name authors writing comfortably with agencies whose literary sparkle doesn’t extend to assisting new authors; trawled through The Writers and Artists Yearbook, agency websites; researched individual agents to discover their favourite authors and their pet hates before measuring your writing against someone else’s yardstick, and on top of that, you’re either running out of agencies because they’ve rejected you, or they have a full client base and are currently closed to submissions.
Self-publishing seems just as daunting, although after feeling the mangle effect (wringer, if you’re American) from the above, you’re on the point of giving it a whirl – if only you could get your head around doing everything yourself: book cover designer, editor, marketer, publicist. And if you’re not literally doing it by yourself, you’re putting in the legwork (and money) to do the above. While all up for learning new skills, chancing making a hash-up of your novel getting ‘out there’ because of inappropriate font, typos, amateur clip-art covers, and even poor paper quality (should you go for a print-run) are just some of the pit-falls of going it alone. The upside is that if your marketing and publicity skills are non-existent, then no one will ever know how amateur your attempts were to present great writing. I’ve never tried self-publishing, but if I did, I would have to ensure my work was packaged as good as if it were traditionally published.
There is an in between road, and that is digital publishing incorporating some print of demand. Taking this route means you have access to some professional boots on the ground, meaning they will do the editing, cover design, marketing, etc. A viable route for the writer who is overwhelmed by the thought of going it alone. When researching digital publishing, take care to read contracts, and be sure that this meets your expectations as a published author. Any publishing service that asks a writer to outlay any money at any point, is vanity publishing, and one that is best avoided.
What is Digital Publishing
Digital media is content delivered on phones, computers, tablets, and other portable media.
- Generally cheaper than print media; readily available on any device with internet access (obviates need for choosing which or how many books to pop in your holiday suitcase!)
- It can reach a wider, global audience. If more people can potentially see a book, then it might yield more success
- Errors within the writing can be quickly, and cheaply rectified; not so with print. It’s never a good look to have grammar and typos in a finished book
- It’s cost-effective as printing, distribution and shipping costs are done away with
Bookouture are part of Hachette Book Group, and one of the ‘big 5.’
Founded in 2012 and based in London, Bookouture has enjoyed a number of publishing successes. Its website is slick and detailed. Currently, there are forty-eight on the team specialising in every aspect of publishing from commissioning editors, digital sales and operations to publicity and social media, audio publishing, and contracts, rights and translation. This list is not exhaustive, and each team member has a photograph of themselves and a mini-bio showing what background, skills and talents they have.
Always open for submissions, they take on both unsolicited and agented writers, and call for a variety of genres. Their books do appear to be firmly fitting (and thus formulaic?) inside the chosen genre. There doesn’t appear to be innovative, complex or quirky writing.
Paraphrasing from their website here is some of what they offer:
- Editors have years of publisher experience across the industry
- Their expertise is tailored for authors
- Publishing is a collaborative process, so author is involved
- 45% royalty rates (note, there is no advance as with traditional publishing). Their cut is 55% forever.
- They pay quarterly, giving authors a regular income
- Even after the book is done and out there, Bookouture will continue to source ways of increasing sales and keeping publicity going
- Advertising and the use of social media are honed to target and influence consumers
And their authors are successful?
Yes, they do appear to be. British author, Angela Marson who writes crime thrillers has (according to Amazon) sold more than five million books in seven years. She has twenty-eight book contract with Bookouture, and from what I’ve seen online, she is delighted that they took her on.
Shalini Boland, another UK author of psychological thrillers set around her home of Dorset, is also successful with over two million books published. She is prolific with twenty-five books published to date.
I also came across the following thread [Publisher] Bookouture | Absolute Write Water Cooler
There are over one-hundred authors published with them together with author photos and book lists.
The second publisher is Storm Publishing founded by the former CEO of Bookouture in 2022. They too are a dynamic company, and they point out that they are publishers not a publishing service, and therefore do not ask the author to outlay any money. They “pay 50% of net revenue to authors.” Their cut is 50% for 10 years.
They are looking for adult fiction in any genre. Once you submit your MS they intend to get back to you within two weeks.
The third, Thread Publishing is an imprint of Bookouture, specialising in non-fiction: Health, Memoir, Parenting, Self-Development, and so on. Their selling point is ”We want all our titles to be bestsellers – so we treat each of them like one.” Their cut is 55% forever.
To reiterate, if this appeals to you, do your research, and ask questions before you sign anything. For example, how many e-books do you have to sell before a PoD is done? Would you be happy to take 45% on each book sold? Ancora’s warning is that “Amazon, etc., all take their own cut of any sum made, so Hachette/Bookouture will take those fees off BEFORE they calculate any money owed to the author.” This is certainly something you want to take into account when doing your homework. Having said that, the authors I’ve read are really happy with their choices and have enjoyed considerable success. I guess it’s a matter of what is important to you. Do you want to be totally self-published and keep all of the money you earn, or do you want someone to take the reins, and in doing so, accept that a publisher’s expertise is going to require payment? If you have any experience with either the above publishers or others, it would be great to hear from you.
Galadriel
THE MOVING FINGER WRITES AND HAVING WRIT MOVES ON…
Twenty years ago, if you told me you were considering self-publishing, I’d have made a twisted wee face and said, “Are you sure?” Now, I try hard not to show that face when someone tells me they’re “holding out” for traditional publishing. The world is not what it was twenty years ago. Publishing isn’t what it was twenty years ago; writers’ earnings aren’t what they were twenty years ago; and God knows, technology is frighteningly ahead of where it was twenty years ago.
Writers have moved on. We have choices. An entire generation has grown up using online tools to earn a (good) living from their creativity. It's worth looking at some industry figures before you make up your own mind.
The Authors’ Licensing & Collecting Society (ALCS), Published December 2022, showed that “earnings from writing alone for authors with third-party publishers [that’s traditional publishing to you and me] stood at approximately $8,600 (£7,000).” I think we can assume that’s per annum. Most of you know how long it takes to write a (decent) book so you can work out an approximate hourly rate from that figure.
Compare that with the “median revenue” for independent authors in 2022, which stands at about $12,749 (£10,229). [NB: as with these industry reports, I’m using the term “independent author” to mean the same as “self-published author”. Check out the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), who “represent, advance, promote and support independent (self-published) authors globally”. This term is not to be confused with a small, independent press / publisher, which is a tiny publishing house dedicated to traditional publishing. Nor is it to be confused with the hybrid publishing houses who offer to edit etc and publish your book for half, or more, of the book’s lifetime earnings. In my view, those hybrids are not traditional publishers, though they may be affiliated to one. They are new / hybrid companies set up to take advantage of the independent / self-publishing boom.]
The ALCS 2022 report showed “a sustained fall in professional writers’ real terms income from writing over the past 15 year of around 60%.”
ALLi suggests indie / self-publishing authors are bucking that trend: “Average incomes of self-published authors are rising, with a 53% increase in 2022, over the previous year.”
SOURCE
Okay. So what?
Here’s another couple of statistics, and then I’m done with the figures:
Hachette Book Group (parent company Lagardére): Revenue for UK branch, 2022, grew 3.4%. Group revenue for the year totalled €6.9 billion “UP 28.3% from 2021”.
Average executive compensation is around $235,000 pa.
HarperCollins (owned by News Corp): profits have been falling recently. However, stats for 2022: HC operates “with an annual revenue of $2.19 billion The company increased its publishing revenue by 10.5% compared to the 2021 fiscal year”. SOURCE
Average executive salary is £200,000 pa; (highest is $430.000 pa; smallest is $57,000).
I won’t bore you with the rest – you know how to use Google to check traditional publishing houses’ profits. All I would emphasise is that one billion in the US and UK = one thousand million (as far as I know, a billion in the EU = one million million. Please correct me if I’m wrong). Whether it’s in £, $ or € that is a lot of money. It is not going to (most) traditionally published writers.
Edited to add: Penguin Random House, Hachette and HarperCollins have all seen reductions in profits in 2023 and are reducing staff to cut costs. Nonetheless, profits remain in the millions. Here is another great site for keeping up-to-date on information and news for indie authors and traditionally published authors: killzoneblog.com – a fantastic, professional resource for all writers.
Don’t misunderstand me here. I have no problem with anyone earning a lot of money. Good luck to you! Earn as much as you can. Just don’t do it by ripping the piss out of someone else, especially creative people who barely earn enough to scrape by. Compare the salaries the executives of the big publishing houses take for themselves, with what they pay the vast majority of their writers – writers without whom those executives would not have a job.
NB: Smaller publishers, the independents who are not affiliated to what’s known as the Big Five (HarperCollins; Penguin Random House; Macmillan; Simon & Schuster; Hachette (Lagardére)…and all of their many subsidiaries) will be struggling as much as any other small business these days. So, if you’re picked up by a small “independent” traditional publisher they probably won’t be able to offer you much in the way of an advance. That’s not greed; that’s tough economics. For those companies, “Independent” means just that: they are independent of any big company and so they don’t have a big pot of money to dip into whenever they want. I applaud those small independent publishing houses. We need them.
I can hear you say Ah, but it was ever thus: greedy companies take all the money, and poor writers starve in garrets.
Not any more. Not since the IT revolution. And I know we all love to hate Amazon, but it has altered the playing field. Many creatives are taking advantage of that.
So where does that leave writers?
PROS AND CONS
It leaves you with choices.
If you prefer the traditional publishing route, that’s fine. You submit to agents and/or publishers. If accepted, you’ll be offered a deal. They edit your book, ask for rewrites, take you through it all, handle the proofreading, pay for the cover and the print run etc, and sort out distribution (a biggie)…
They may offer you an advance. If your book sells enough copies to recoup that advance for the publisher, that’s great. Once the advance is covered / paid off, you then begin to reap the benefit of any subsequent sales. Those are your royalties. The publishing house may also take a cut of those subsequent sales, depending on your contract with them. If you don’t “earn out”, ie if your book doesn’t sell enough copies to pay back the advance the publishing house gave you, they may not accept any more of your work. Again, it depends on your contract.
Of course they hope you will make them money; they’re a business, not a charity. If your book takes off and starts earning a lot of money, you should start making a lot more money too. At least, that’s the theory.
The major thing to remember about a bona fide traditional publisher is they do not charge you a penny. Nothing. Ever. They pay for it all, and they help you grow as an author by investing their money, time and editorial staff in you. They don't charge you any money before or after taking you on.
THE PROS of traditional publishing are obvious: they do all the heavy lifting with regard to the technical side of publishing. You don’t have to worry about where the hell you find someone to “make” a cover. And formatting – what’s that? Don’t worry, you can leave all that to the traditional publisher. You don’t have to do anything except sit back and wait for the money to roll in, right?
Wrong. (See under.)
The biggest PRO of all, though, for many writers is being able to say to friends and family “I’ve found a publisher!” Which is code for “See! I AM good enough.” That tacit validation is what drives so many writers to hold out for traditional publishing – it sure isn’t the expectation of making a liveable annual salary. Of course, that is absolutely their choice.
Interesting how the term “vanity publishing” has changed over the decades, too.
THE CONS: traditional houses are less likely to take a risk on new writers. They prefer writers with their own website / blog / vlog / FaceBook followers / TikTok followers / Threads followers etc. Traditional publishers, quite rightly, expect writers to be professional, to be committed to growing as a writer / business, to produce consistently good work, and to work hard at the marketing, too.
Even as an unknown, you will be expected to know about social media and you’ll be expected to help market your own book. Don’t think your traditional publisher will do all that while you sit back, drink coffee and dream up the plot for your next book. Like I said: That World is Gone.
You’ll still be expected to do your share of marketing, from book-shop readings and “events” (if you can get them), to social media followers (if you can get them), to selling at your local market, if need be.
They will also expect you to be marketing your book LONG before it is published. They’ll want you building a buzz around it, perhaps doing some short TikTok videos, organising reader reviews etc. This all takes time and effort. Most of it will be yours.
AND IF I DO IT MYSELF?
Publishing independently / self-publishing, means you do it ALL yourself. You write the book. If you can, you have it professionally edited. You have a cover professionally made. You do research on what’s the best way to format your book for different online retailers (Amazon; Apple; Barns & Noble etc). You upload the book online to Amazon etc either formatted as an ebook file or as an ebook plus print on demand (POD).
You need to know all this. As an independent / self-publishing author, you are essentially making a commitment to yourself and your work. You become a small business dedicated to YOU, promoting you and your creativity. For that risk, and hard work, you will reap all the benefits, because all the profit you make (minus the small fee Amazon et al charge for uploading your book) will be yours. All of it. You do all the work, you keep all the money you make (minus expenses, if you delegate, and minus any tax owed).
That’s why, when I hear about hybrid publishing houses that offer writers a “deal” where the house takes 50 or 60% of the writers’ life-time earnings on a book, for giving the book a light edit, a proofread, a cover and an upload, I get incensed. THAT is just one reason why the big publishing houses, and others, are making millions of dollars, pounds or euros in profit out of creatives. Yes, of course, some of those hybrid publishing companies might have decent standards and may accept manuscripts that are pretty good to begin with. Some may be good to deal with. But many won’t. They’ll publish just about anything, and then make sure they take the biggest cut of any profit cake, forever. Multiply that by the thousands (millions?) of writers who will use them and you can see why it’s an attractive side hustle for so many publishing companies.
Those hybrid companies, no matter how they sell it, are still there to make money out of all the writers in the world who want to say those magic words: “I’ve found a publisher!”
To be clear: those hybrid companies are not traditional publishing houses (even though they may be affiliated to them). A traditional publishing house will not charge a writer anything to publish their book, either before publication or after it.
CAVEAT EMPTOR
Whether you pay a company before publication (sometimes known as vanity publishing – which is fine if that’s what you want); or whether you pay a company after publication (as in the hybrid companies who will “edit, proofread, provide a cover and upload the ebook” for a big percentage of your earning on that book forever), my warning is the same:
Know what you’re getting into.
Check the small print.
Check for hidden fees. For example, who pays Amazon’s small fee for uploading digital work – them or you?
Is the total amount you get GROSS or NET? Ask them what that means. Exactly.
Work out the finances before you sign anything over to a hybrid publishing company.
If a service takes 55%, that means for every 100 pounds, dollars or euros, that’s 55 to them and 45 to you. But they will probably take Amazon’s (small) fee out of YOUR slice of the cake, so that’s even less than 45 to you. Is there anything else they deduct? Ask them. Get it in writing.
If you make 1000, they will take 550 and you will make 450, less whatever fees they put in your contract. But you wrote the book! You spent months / years trying to make it the best book you could, writing and rewriting and … and they take the biggest slice of the cake forever, on the book you signed over to them. Excuse me while I go wash my mouth out with soap.
If you think that’s a good deal, then go for it. It may suit writers who don’t mind paying a publishing company for that service. If you can, check with The Society of Authors about any contract from a company that wants to take a cut of your earnings.
ALTERNATIVELY…
Rather than pay a company more than half your earnings for the rest of the book’s life, you could invest in yourself. Delegate the things you can’t do. Check online for designers and illustrators who make covers, either for ebooks or for ebook plus POD (prices vary. Check online. Join forums and ask questions. There is a whole community of indie authors out there and they are incredibly helpful).
Equally, you can find a formatter to make the book ready for digital upload. Or learn how to do it yourself. It’s up to you. It all depends what your budget it and how much you want to invest in yourself.
As an indie author, you have choices.
GOING TO MARKET
Whether you publish traditionally or independently, you’ll have to know how to market your book, using every social media and technological strategy at your disposal. See Rachel’s excellent piece on Marketing (under) for in-depth information on this.
Preferably, begin marketing your book long before it hits Amazon or any book shelf.
Organise ARCS, if you can – Advance Reader Copies. Some companies provide this service. Honest reviews will help sell your work.
Create interest. Give snippets of the book, depending on the genre you’re selling.
Consider TikTok, Instagram etc. Be consistent. Keep it short. Post often. Read up on other indie authors’ successes. Check what they did, which social media they used (and which they didn’t waste time on). This will also be genre dependent.
Don’t make the mistake of going on every social media outlet. That’s a sure way to burnout (it’ll turn readers off, too). Be fussy. Where do other authors in your genre advertise? Do they use Amazon or Facebook ads? TikTok? Threads? Should you have a newsletter? (Probably.) A reader magnet? A website? A blog? How do you plan to engage with your readers to ensure they buy your next book? How long are you going to make them wait for it?
Answers will vary depending on your genre. Ask around on forums. You’ll be surprised how many other indie authors – some very successful – are happy to help newcomers.
Communication and community are strong in the indie world.
I AM THE MASTER OF MY FATE, I AM THE CAPTAIN OF MY SOUL
Poet William Earnest Henley had it right. But you can master technicalities, too.
You can make a cover for free on sites such as Canva.com. You can format your book (Vellum.pub is a good paid-for software, as is Atticus, but there are many other free options). As an indie author you can do all, or most, of it yourself and tailor it to your own budget. It means commitment and loyalty to yourself as a writer, and to your journey as an author. Which, sadly, a lot of traditional publishers no longer offer. If you don’t earn them the biggest slice of the pie, they’ll drop you faster than an old cliché.
And yet, one road can still lead to the other. Traditional publishers are also trawling indie communities and forums, looking for the most popular authors and offering them deals. The carrot offered there is distribution. But it’s another way indie authors are taking control, so it’s good.
You see? Choices.
One last caveat: don't think for a moment that self-publishing or traditionally publishing ONE book is going to make you a decent annual salary. If you make this your job, you have to work at it just like any other job. That means you're writing the next book while you continue to market the one you just published. Have a deadline for finishing it. Build hype around that, too. Have LOTS of ideas ready for your next books and keep that ball rolling. And keep reading! But you do that anyway, right? You're a business. Your words are your product. Write! Keep writing, and keep publishing. That way, you will grow as an author and hopefully your reader base will grow, too.
If you’re sitting thinking Yeah, I can do this! I’ve got a soul. I’m a captain! But, um, what should I write?
Research what sells best, at wordsrated.com
Whatever path you choose, whichever sea you sail, I wish you success.
Ancora Imparo
MARKETING
There are many strategies for marketing, and many of you live and breathe it for your own books, so this chat is familiar ground to some. I invite those people to expand upon what I discuss and share their ideas. Rather than delve into all the “deals” etc you can offer readers which are discussed in this thread: Self-Publishing - Book Marketing Tactics Discussion Thread. I’ll approach marketing from the angle of how you might generate and build interest in your book (then make them wait).
But my Craft Chat is just that – a chat based on my own experiences (I self published in 2017) and observation and research. With my disclaimer out of the way, let’s chat marketing.
Understanding human behaviour and what drives readers to buy books is fundamental to building our own marketing campaigns. So, approach your marketing from a “build interest and they will come” perspective.
This is how you could market from the Instagram platform, but I believe you could adapt these concepts for whatever social platform you prefer. You provide content on Instagram via posts and polls (stays in your feed -unless you archive a post), stories (last 24 hours at the top of your feed), and reels (stays on your page forever).
Visibility
First things first. Let your followers learn to trust you before selling them your book. You could:
- Post a funny picture e.g. pet picture
- Ask a question i.e. “My favourite author is Terry Pratchett. Who is your favourite author?”
- Create a poll i.e. “Who do you want to read next? A. Brandon Sanderson, B. V.E. Schwab or, C. Erin Morgenstern.”
Engagement
Next step:
ANTICIPATION
- 101 human behaviour: people want what they have to wait for.
- It makes sense to build anticipation. If you start marketing after your book is released, you’ve lost the opportunity to use your strongest marketing tool. If something is easily accessible, people lose interest and rationalise putting off buying whatever until another day, but we want people to buy our book TODAY. That means BUILD ANTICIPATION and leave readers SALIVATING to press “buy” NOW.
- Again, you could ask questions and create polls. Answers give you insight into what your audience wants, but they’re also from someone less invested in the writing process (fresh eyes).
- You can make stories or reels to build anticipation. This time, focus on what parts of your book you can discuss without giving the story away i.e. What is your MC’s favourite colour? Be creative. You’re a writer!
Reel ideas:
- snippets of your writing or character quotes. This is one of my test reels:
- character favourite animal/job/food/music … anything to do with character interests.
- Name 2/3 books similar to yours. Create a reel showing the cover of each book and then your own with the heading, “If you like these books, you should read this one.”
- Or ask … “if [insert character name] was a colour, what colour would she/he be?/ or flower?/or season?” Create a reel based on your answers and share the reel. This paints a picture of each character without giving aways parts of your story. Followers get a sense for your characters.
- You can even add a countdown for your book release!
BUILD HYPE AND INTEREST
- Create mystery around your characters. Followers will not only become curious, they will know if they want to spend time with your characters (and hopefully, they will).
- By building hype and interest, you allow followers access to your story and without reading it.
Another benefit of Instagram is you can create an Instagram shop, should you choose to be hands on, and you can stock your own books in the shop. Then link Shopify your Instagram shop. Buyers don’t have to leave your feed to buy your book. You just have to post it to them.
LINKS
How Authors can use Instagram to Sell More Books
VLOGS
Use a story to market on Instagram -
R K Wallis
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info to digest in this post. Thank you so much to you three for writing it.
